When browsing the website, will you have such questions.
Why do some websites start with http://, while others start with https://? Is there any difference between them?
Frequently visited websites, the browser suddenly prompts "Security certificate expired", reminding you not to browse the website?
All of this is the "ghost of SSL certificate."
What is an SSL certificate?
As the name suggests, it is a kind of certificate. You can simply understand why academic certificates and professional certificates are the same, but unlike these certificates, SSL certificates are not paper-based, but digital. It is a digital certificate issued to a website by a digital certificate authority.
By the way, unlike academic certificates and professional certificates, SSL certificates usually have to be bought. Academic qualifications and professional certificates must be tested on the basis of strength. It is illegal to buy certificates, but it is not only normal to spend money to buy SSL certificates, but also reasonable and legal.
So, what exactly does an SSL certificate do? It is an encryption technology used to establish encrypted links between Web servers and servers and clients. The HTTPS protocol is enabled by configuring and applying the SSL certificate to ensure the security of Internet data transmission.
It can be understood that the website is like a parent group. Teachers and parents communicate in the group about their children's homework, grades and other school conditions. This group does not allow adding friends or private chats. Suddenly one day, the teacher said in the group: "The school requires a new uniform, and each student has to pay 400 yuan."
The parents paid the money one after another. At this time, another teacher jumped out and said that there was no such thing. The one who said just now to pay the money was a liar. Parents have been deceived.
In order to avoid this problem from happening again, the teacher decided to install an SSL certificate for the parent group. After the configuration and installation are successful, the teacher can use the group sending function. Every time you want to notify the parents of something, you can directly send a private message to all parents, and the parents only recognize the teacher’s WeChat ID , In this way, the liar will not be able to start.
The SSL certificate plays such a role.
When a user connects to a website, if the website is protected by a certificate, the server will respond and automatically pass the certificate to the user. The user will know that this website is the one they want to visit and is safe.
Next, the user's web browser program generates a unique "session key code" to encrypt all communication between the user and the website.
Finally, the user’s browser encrypts the conversation key with the website’s public key, so that only the website can read the conversation key code.
When the website is configured with an SSL certificate, http:// will become https://. Whether the website is configured with an SSL certificate can be seen through this.
What are the benefits of configuring an SSL certificate?
1. Security
The first advantage is safety. After the SSL certificate is configured, when a user browses the website, no one can monitor the information exchange between the user and the website, or track the user's activities, access records, etc., to prevent user information from being stolen from the root cause.
The leakage of user information will inevitably cause disastrous consequences. Users who no longer trust the website and refuse to visit again will also violate the "Network Security Law of the People's Republic of China" and face penalties.
2. Trust
After the website is configured with an SSL certificate, a green lock symbol will appear in front of the website URL, and the browser will remind the user: "This is a trusted website". Users’ trust in the website has doubled, and their worries are greatly reduced when filling in personal information, placing orders, and paying. A single certificate can solve the sales link of "building a sense of trust".
3. Improve search engine ranking
In 2014, Google announced to the outside world that it would prioritize the inclusion and ranking of https sites; in 2015, Baidu forced to enable https connections on all sites. Configuring the SSL certificate has a great advantage on search engine rankings.
4. Fishing
After the website has a certain size, some counterfeit websites will appear. After the user is deceived, the responsibility will be passed on to the website, thinking why the website is not actively defending their rights and why it has not cracked down on the counterfeit websites, which caused my loss. Obviously it was not my fault, but it caused the loss of users.
Using SSL certificates, users can easily identify counterfeit websites.
Notes on using SSL certificate
Although the SSL certificate is good, pay attention to its use, otherwise it will be counterproductive. The most common operation and maintenance accident is the certificate expiration.
Tesla crashed the APP due to certificate issues;
The software giant forgot to update the SSL certificate, causing the Microsoft instant messaging tool to go offline for three hours;
Mozilla postponed the release of Firefox 67 due to certificate issues;
After the certificate expires, when the user visits the website, the browser will display a prompt similar to "Website certificate expired, insecure". The button for "close page" is very large, and the button for "continue access" is very small. In most cases, users will Choose X to drop without access. The loss caused by this is no less than a major safety accident.
When the certificate expires, you can click the "green lock" to check, or use the certificate transparency query tool to check.
Okay, I believe you have a preliminary understanding of SSL certificates. In fact, there is still a lot of knowledge about this certificate, such as which issuing agencies, what are the characteristics of their certificates, how to purchase SSL certificates, etc., must be comprehensive Understanding is considered proficient, and Wei Keyun will continue to explain to you in the future.